F 128 
.65 

. H3 U6 Reprinted from 

Copy 1 THE SURVEY 
April 2, 1910 



THE PROPOSED 
HARRIMAN STATE PARK 




THE MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETY 

OF NEW YORK CITY 



COMMITTEE ON PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS 

E. STAGG WHITIN, Chairman 

H. A. CAPARN CHAS. F. BREITZKE O. R. HOUSTON 

JAMES A. TAYLOR HOWARD BRADSTREET 



S^acslVtf'J Prom 

Copyrl5;ht Office, 

JUN 1910 







POPOLOPEN CREEK IN PROPOSED HARRIMAN STATE PARK. 



THE PROPOSED HARRIMAN STATE PARK 

A PEOPLE'S PLAYGROUND ON THE PALISADES 

BY 

E. STAGG WHITIN 



CHAIRMAN PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS COMMITTEE 
MUNICIPAL ARTS SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



C. F. BREITZKE 

Am. Soc. Civil Engineers 



H. A. CAPARN 

Am. Soc. Architects 



Photographs by O. R. Houston and H. A. Caparn 



The magnificent gift by Mrs. Edward 
H. Harriman of land for a state park ly- 
ing about her home at Arden in the high- 
lands of the Hudson, together with 
money to buy land between it and the 
river, which Governor Hughes announced 
in his last annual message, has been for- 
mally preseated to the Legislature in a 
bill. Coincident with it the Palisades 
Park Commission, which for years has 
been preserving the Palisades from en- 
croachment, announced plans for their 

April 2, X91Q. 



extension up to Newburgh on condition 
that the new state prison be not built at 
Bear mountain in the midst of the tract. 
The preservation of great natural beauty 
was the avowed purpose in both cases, 
but marked social uses have developed 
and greater ones are in prospect. Under 
the commission, the narrow strip of level 
land at the foot of the Palisades has been 
occupied every summer by camps and 
tent colonies, and Governor Hughes 
pointed out in his message that the new 




Anthony's Nose. 
VIEW OF HUDSON RIVER FROM BEAR MOUNTAIN TLATEAU. 



Harriman Park has wonderful possibili- 
ties as a playground for the people. 

The district, covered by the proposed 
park has for many years been the site 
of camps run by settlements, churches 
and other philanthropic agencies in New 
York. Recently their number has been 
greatly lessened by the difficulty of secur- 
ing sites accessible to the city where 
camping is not prohibited because the 
waters of adjoining lakes are controlled 
by water companies. This had awakened 
a hope among social workers in congested 
city districts that some day a great mu- 
nicipal camp might be secured, regulated 
and protected in such a way that children, 
young men and even adults from the 
tenement districts could find a place for 
rest and recuperation. The desire for 
such a great free land has been voiced in 
more than one club meeting and around 
many a tenement fireside. The recent 
gift seems to point the way toward its 
realization. The Parks and Playground 
Commission of the Municipal Arts So- 
ciety has interested itself in this phase of 
the Harriman gift and has urged the 
Palisades Park Commission to incorpo- 
rate in. its plans an extension of the camp 
feature which it has so successfully de- 
veloped on a small scale. To plan new 
social uses for the park, to determine 
what types of camps are desired, and to 
arrange to make the park available for 
such uses, the committee, including en- 
gineers and landscape architects, has 
made a study of the tract. Its findings 
in brief are as follows : 

Three types of camp are needed by 
city people: camps for day excursions, 



for week ends, and for longer vacations 
of about two weeks. 

Day excursions by boat and trai!l> 
which are common in the summer, are 
usually made up of members of organi- 
zations connected with churches, settle- 
ments, public schools, trade unions and 
political organizations. In many in- 
stances the parks they visit are badly lo- 
cated, devoid of beauty and surrounded 
by degrading influences. Should the 
shores of the Hudson possess a beautiful 
park properly supervised and equipped 
and so regulated that it might be used 
by these organizations, it would prove a 
great boon to the individuals and raise 
the standard of city morals. 

Week ends are enjoyed by poor as 
well as rich. A Saturday half holiday 
and Sunday of rest are the common prac- 
tice. The city workers seek an opportu- 
nity to get away from heat and dust and 
noise. In the tent colonies under the 
Palisades and in other camps a large 
number of young men have demanded 
admission for Saturday and Sunday 
only. If the Harriman State Park were 
equipped with tents or other shelter to 
be had at a reasonable rate, thousands of 
young working people could enjoy the in- 
vigoration of its mountain air without 
cost to the state. 

The two weeks' vacation is the only 
opportunity given to most of the working 
classes to get entirely away. Often whole 
families or groups of friends secure 
their vacation at the same time and move 
out into the country. Tent colonies are 
popular and there are now many devices 
for making them sanitary and comfort- 

A^l 2, 1910. 




.^,r^:>^. 



rt-i?? 



u^yF: 



t 






Duuderbeig. 



PROPOSED CAMP SITE NO. 1. 



able. They need not be as accessible as 
the Other types of camps but they should 
be near the water, be properly policed 
and possess sanitary conveniences. 

In considering the availability of the 
Harriman Park for such uses, we must 
have its probable boundaries clearly in 
mind and determine what portions can- 
not be made camp sites because of their 
use as sources of city water supply. A 
general outline of the boundaries is 
given in the accompanying map. Let 
us see what they are: Mrs. Harriman 
is ready to convey to the state a tract 
of about 10,000 acres situated in Orange 
and Rockland counties to be held in per- 
petuity as a state park and, further, to 
give $1,000,000 with which to acquire 
and improve adjacent land, so that the 
park may have some river frontage and 
be rendered more accessible, useful and 
beneficial. 

POSSIBILITIES FOR SITES 

In addition to Mrs. Harriman's gift, 
the Palisades Park Commission has se- 
cured private subscriptions of $1,625,000 
from residents of New York and New 
Jersey and has planned to build a road- 
way along the base of the Palisades from 
Fort Lee to Piermont, to extend the 
present park northward as contemplated 
in the act of 1906, to create and improve 
under its jurisdiction a Highlands Park 
including the land to be conveyed by 
Mrs. Harriman, with suitable connections 
between these parks and with the state 
reservation at Stony Point, and to ex- 
tend the proposed parK northward along 
the river to Newburgh. 

In addition, the state has acquired 

April 2, 1910. 



nearly 2,000 acres near Thiells, adjacent 
.to the proposed park, for the Eastern 
New York State Custodial Asylum to be 
known as Letchworth Village. 

The proposed park, then, in addition 
to the .Interstate Palisades Park and the 
mountain lands along the west bank of 
the Hudson in Rockland county north of 
Piermont creek and south of the state 
reservation at Stony Point, will contain 
in the main a tract to be extended north- 
ward from Haverstraw along the west 
bank of the Hudson to Newburgh, and 
westward to include the Ramapo moun- 
tains. 

Mrs. Harriman's gift indicated by the 
sections marked H on the map, lies prac- 
tically all in Orange county, most of it 
being in the town of Tuxedo with an 
adjacent strip in the town of Woodbury 
and with two small isolated tracts in the 
towns of Highland and Stony Point. In 
order to connect these tracts with each 
other and with the proposed extension 
along the river front, the Palisades Park 
Commission has planned for connecting 
strips of land along the line of the north 
branch of Miniscongo creek from Ha- 
verstraw to the Harriman tract in 
Orange county just west of Johnsontown, 
a distance of about ten miles; and fol- 
lowing the Queensboro brook to connect 
the main tract with the isolated tracts in 
the towns of Highland and Stony Point 
and with the proposed river front ex- 
tension at a point west of the Dunder- 
berg mountain, thus providing a continu- 
ous circuit joining the Harriman gift 
with the Hudson. 

The Harriman tracts in the towns of 
Woodbury, Highland, and Stony Point, 




MAP SHOWING THE PROPOSED CAMP SITES IN THE HARRIMAN STATE 



and the strips connecting them, are in- 
cluded almost entirely in the water-shed 
of Popolopen creek and its tributaries, 
ponds and streams from which the wa- 
ter supply for West Point is obtained. 
Immediately south and adjacent to this is 
the water-shed of Cedar Pond brook 
which is used as a source by the Haver- 
straw Water Supply Company. North- 
east and adjacent to the West Point wa- 
tcr-shcd is that of lligliland i'^alls, which 
is crossed by the proposed extension of 
the park passing to the west of the West 
Point reservation. Adjoining and north 
of the Highland Falls water-shed is that 
from which the village of Cornwall gets 
its supply. 

Immediately south of the Cedar Pond 
brook water-shed is that of Minisconjjo 

6 



creek. The proposed strip of land con- 
necting the main portion of the Harri- 
man gift in the town of Tuxedo, as well 
as Letchworth Village, lies on this drain- 
age area. The middle branch of Minis- 
congo will furnish the water supply of 
the new Custodial Asylum. The north 
and south branches of this stream, how- 
ever, are not used as a source of water 
supply. 

Immediately west of the drainage area 
of the north branch of Miniscongo creek 
is that of Stony brook and a portion of 
that of the Ramapo river containing most 
of the Harriman gift. Stony brook is. 
tributary to the Ramapo river which dis- 
charges into the Pompton river and 
thence into the Passaic. With the ex- 
ception of Little Falls, N. J., which fil- 

April 2, 1910. 




PARK AND THEIR RELATIONS TO MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLIES. 



ters its supply from the Passaic, so far 
as can be ascertained from the informa- 
tion at hand, no municipality takes its 
supply from that portion of the Ramapo 
drainage area above mentioned. 

Immediately south of the Miniscongo 
creek drainage area and west of the range 
of mountains forming the west bank of 
the Hudson in the 1906 extension of the 
Palisades Park, are the water-sheds of 
the Hackensack river, Pascack creek, and 
the Mahwah river, the first supplying 
Nyack, the first two the Hackensack Wa- 
ter Company which furnishes water to 
municipalities in northeastern New Jer- 
sey, and the third the village of Sufifern. 
Adjoining the Mahwah river drainage 
basin at the north is that of the middle 
branch of Miniscongo creek which is 

April 2, 1910. 



to be used as a source of water sui)ply 
by Letchworth Village. 

PARTS AVAILABLE FOR CAMPS 

Generally speaking, then, two portions 
of the proposed park remain available 
for development as recreation grounds 
without endangering the purity of any 
water supply. The first is a strip of land 
varying in width from one-half to two 
and one-half miles, extending along the 
Hudson from Haverstraw to Newburgh. 
The other is the main portion of the Har- 
riman gift and the land included in the 
drainage areas of the Ramapo and Minis- 
congo creek between it and the Hudson. 

The Parks and Playgrounds Commit- 
tee of the Municipal Arts Society re- 
cently made a reconnoissance of large 

7 




-NEW STATE ROAD ALONG THE HUDSON. 



portions of each of these localities and 
discovered three splendid camp sites. 
The first overlooks the Hudson at one of 
its most beautiful portions. It is west of 
lona Island, northwest of Dunderberg 
mountain at Highland lake on the eastern 
slope of Great Bear mountain covering 
the site of the proposed new state prison. 
The second is on the drainage area of 
the north branch of Miniscongo creek 
about three miles west of Thiells, at a 
point where a small dam thrown across 
a gorge will create a beautiful lake about 



two miles long. The third site is at and 
south of Johnsontown, where another 
artificial lake having two branches respec- 
tively three and two miles long can be 
built at small expense. 

The Highland lake location is ideal for 
a camp and offers remarkable possibili- 
ties for use in both summer and winter. 
It is about forty-three miles north of 
Forty-second street, New York, about 
fifteen miles south of Newburgh and 
about thirty miles south of Poughkeep- 
sie. It is easily accessible by rail and 




1 1 LAND LAKE, AT BEAU MOUN^'AIN PLATEAU 



April 2, 1910. 




FUOM THE HIGHLANDS. LOOKING TOWARD THE HITDSON. 




'HE BACK COUNTRY. 




STATE ROAD FROM HAVERSTRAW WEST. 



K" 


,iMn 


i 




mr- 'm' 1 


HP 


'"* '^NflSSH^^I^^^H 



MIi\ISC'ON(iO rUEEK AT TIIIELLS. 



water, being on the route of an im- 
proved highway extending along the 
Hudson from Fort Lee to Newburgli, 
and would be a convenient stopping 
point for day excursions. 

Immediately north of High- 
land lake is a comparatively level 
strip of about 500 acres which 
could be developed into baseball 
fields, tennis courts, fields for 
athletic contests and other play- 
grounds. South of the lake, in- 
cluding the proposed site for the 
new state prison and extending 
west of Dunderberg mountain to 
the north face of the Timp, is 
a location which offers splendid 
opportunities for scenic develop- 
ment and for the building of a 
good-sized pleasure resort for 
week-end and vacation parties. 
The fine opportunities for tobog- 
gan slides, snow shoeing, skiinj,' 
and ice sports on Highland lake 
make this a good site for a win- 
ter park as well. 

On the mountain sides west of 
this a number of good-sized 
spring brooks flow down the 
gulleys. A series of small reser-' 
voirs in these gullies, at the same 
elevation, would provide an am- 
ple supply of pure water. The 
sewage could readily be led to 

10 



one point at the edge of the Hudson re- 
moved from the settled sections and there 
discharged after proper treatment in a 
settling tank. Arrangements can be 
made to secure Hglit and power from Po- 




DAM AT FORT MONTGOMERY 

April 2, 



THE PROPOSED HARRIMAN STATE PARK 



11 



polopen creek at a point just west of Fort 
Montgomery. In brief, this is an admir- 
able site for a public park and recreation 
ground. 

A portion of this proposed Highland 
lake recreation ground, as pointed out 
above, is already owned by the state, 
which bought it for a site for the new 
state prison. One of the conditions to 
the additional subscriptions of $1,625,000 
to supplement Mrs. Harriman's gift, was 
"that the state discontinue the work on 
the new state prison located in Rockland 
county, and relocate the prison where, in 
the judgment of the Palisades Park Com- 
mission, it will not interfere with the 
plan and purposes of the commission." 
Governor Hughes stated in his message 
that "it is also fitting that the location of 
the new state prison shall not interfere 
with the execution of the plan, and that 
another site should be found therefor." 

It appears from a conversation with 
the prison officials that the present pro- 
posed site is undesirable for two rea- 
sons: first the surrounding country is 
a wilderness covered with small second 
growth trees which make it practically 
impossible to apprehend escaped pris- 
oners ; second, the sfte offers practically 
no opportunities for the agricultural pur- 
suits in which the prison officials wish 
to engage. It is understood that the 
State Prison Commission is favorably 
considering a suggestion that the pres- 
ent state military encampment ground 
just north of Peekskill be secured as a 
prison site. This is free from the ob- 
jectionable features referred to and will 
meet with but little objection from the 
residents of Peekskill. The state mili- 
tary encampment ground can be located 
within the proposed Harriman State 
Park, south of Highland Falls, south- 
west of North Haverstraw, west and 
northwest of West Haverstraw, at 
Thiells, or about two and one-half miles 
south of Thiells. 

The contracts for the construction of 
the prison buildings have not yet been 
let, and whatever preliminary work has 
been done in preparing the site has not 
been wasted, for much of the same work 
would have been necessary in develop- 
ing recreation grounds. It seems, there- 
April 2, 1910. 



fore, that the state Legislature can render 
no greater service than by carrying out 
the governor's recommendations of 
changing the site of the prison so that 
"we may thus at an early day secure the 
conservation of the natural beauty of 
the west bank of the Hudson river and 
the provision of a public park of ines- 
timable advantage to the people." 

The Adirondack mountains become in- 
creasingly popular as summer vacation 
grounds, not only on account of their 
pure and exhilarating air and forests, 
but on account of the many lakes and 
ponds. A resort having all these attrac- 
tions can, at a comparatively small cost, 
be developed in the second of the por- 
tions of the Harriman Park described 
above, and meet the needs of those in the 
southern part of the state who cannot 
afford a trip to the Adirondacks, but who 
desire more privacy than is possible at 
the Highland lake site. 

The second and third available sites 
pointed out are suitable for such de- 
velopment. Only a portion of one of 
these is included in the Harriman gift, 
but both are adjacent to it and to each 
other and come under the classification 
of those parcels of land adjacent' to the 
tract given by Mrs. Harriman and inter- 
vening between it and the Hudson river, 
which are to be acquired by her addi- 
tional gift. 

The first of these two sites is located 
about three miles west of Thiells on the 
north branch of Miniscongo creek. 
Here there is a narrow gorge between 
the mountains separating the drainage 
area of this stream from that of Cedar 
Pond brook and that of the middle 
branch of Miniscongo creek. It appears 
that a dam across this gorge about 500 
feet long and about 50 feet high at its 
deepest part would give an artificial lake 
at an elevation of about 1,030 feet above 
sea level, about a mile and a half long, 
with an area of about 250 acres. The 
lake would be located in a comparatively 
broad valley, giving ample opportunity 
for a large number of cottages and 
camps. The site can be easily reached by 
rail or water to Haverstraw, and thence 
by stage over a state road through a 
hilly country giving a most beautiful 



12 



LIBRARV OF CONGRESS 



view of the Hudson, or by rail to Sloats- 
burg or Southfield and thence by stage. 
Pure water for the resort can be obtained 
either by impounding some small stream 
as the upper portion of the middle branch 
of Miniscongo creek or by pumping per- 
haps from Long pond or Cedar pond. 
The question of sewage would present no 
difficulties. 

The second of these two sites lies im- 
mediately west of the one just described. 
Here about two miles south of Johnson- 
town at a point about two and a half 
miles east of Tuxedo a small dam about 
500 feet long and 100 feet high at its 
deepest part can be built across a nar- 
row gorge on Stony brook giving an 
artificial lake extending north to and 
around Johnsontown at an elevation of 
770 feet above sea level. This lake 
would have two branches one and two 
miles long with an area of about 540 
acres. The region is beautiful and there 
would be room for a large number of 
cottages. Water supply can be obtained 
either by impounding the upper portion 
of Stony brook at a point northeast of 
the resort or by pumping water from 
Long pond. 



THE SURVEY ,m*mMm».^<«-^ 

One cannot he ^ j, lucsc laKes 

outlined at night by the camp fires with 
the call of the wild piercing the silence 
of the evening's solitude across those 
miles of the Ramapos, or still better the 
sunset on the Hudson when from the 
Bear mountain plateau there arises the 
smoke of a thousand camps, denoting 
peace and happiness in many thousand 
lives. Then would the spirit of King 
Minhaus of the Mohigans, who once 
owned these lands, cry out through the 
gusts of wind in hills : "At last my 
land is free to the children of the na- 
tion — my soul can be at rest." 

Yet we need not stop with these few 
camps in the Ramapo valley. The state 
is broad and wide — these are but a be- 
ginning of the great park system which 
should connect the cities and towns of 
this state with these pleasure spots 
where the American spirit may be invig- 
orated by a short return to the habits of 
the aborigines. Such a system would not 
only make New York state a beautiful 
garden but help us rear a race of men 
able to cope with the industrial demands 
which make her rich and powerful in the 
nation. 




I'OrOLOI'EN CUEEK. 



April 2. 1910. 



^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





014 220 491 



5^ 



